NIPSCO spokesperson Nick Meyer said the company is in the final stages of assessing the storm damage and beginning to make repairs.

“It’s still a bit early to make some of those projections,” Meyer said. “It’s safe to say that repairs will last for multiple days.”

I&M spokesperson Erica Putt said it’s hard to estimate when outages will be fixed.

As of 1 p.m. I&M found 32 poles and 18 cross-arms that needed replacement. Putt said that number is likely to increase as I&M assesses storm damage.

Some power transformers will need to be replaced, she said, which is normal after a lightning storm. I&M doesn’t have a fixed count on the number of transformers that need to be replaced yet.

About 1,400 I&M customers in Elkhart County and 17,770 in St. Joseph County didn’t have power as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 1. That’s about 3 percent of AEP’s Elkhart County customers, according to I&M, and almost 20 percent of St. Joseph County customers.

NIPSCO reported about 5,900 customers without power in Goshen and about 100 without power in Elkhart as of 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Putt warned that people shouldn’t go near downed power lines or trees near those lines.

“Even if a power line doesn’t look like its energized, it could be,” she said.

Customers can report a downed power line to I&M online or at 800-311-4634. Report downed lines to NIPSCO at 800-464-7726.